Bay of Plenty's Nick Briant has gained a place on the refereeing panel for next year's Super Rugby championship.

He is one of three new refs on the 18-man panel along with Australian Rohan Hoffman and South African Jason Jaftha.

Argentinean Francisco Pastrana is also in the mix, having officiated one match this year.

And controversial Aussie James Leckie has earned a recall.

Briant is clearly a ref on the move. He has controlled sevens matches and has been on the New Zealand panel since 2009.

Briant joins Chris Pollock, Glen Jackson, Garratt Williamson, Jonathon White and Mike Fraser as the New Zealanders on the panel.

Hoffman is a 40-year-old who brings playing experience, having represented Portugal 27 times between 1996 and 2002 and has English club experience.

"The recent form of some of our referees in the test environment has given us an excellent senior group within the team, and we have been able to include a healthy number of young referees," Sanzar game manager Lyndon Bray said.

"They have been selected with an eye to the future, both for Super Rugby and test rugby."